


Insubordination V

by Steena



Series: Transgressions verse [7]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Escape, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:27:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steena/pseuds/Steena
Summary: Their initial escape didn't go as planned, and Nitro Zeus's time is running out. At least Ironhide is able to get it right the second time.
Series: Transgressions verse [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630393
Comments: 16
Kudos: 14





	Insubordination V

_It has been far too long._

Sure, he got out of prison just a few months ago, and he really has spent the days setting things up, and doing the recon he needed to do for this mission to have even the slightest chance at being a success, but the clock is ticking, and every day is precious.

He cuts the wires of the fence surrounding the compound — pressing them into the ground to get a ground connection to fool the alarm for a hopefully long enough period — timing his breach perfectly with the patrols, then he's inside.

The compound hasn't changed since he last saw it, so finding his way through it is easy, and it doesn't take many minutes before he's approaching the door to the barrack he's headed for. The door slides open and he walks inside with the familiarity of a mech stationed at the base, because he has been one of the captives here for a long time, even if he isn't anymore.

_He's a free mech, and he'll get another brother out of this slag hole tonight._

Nobody even glance in his direction when he walks down the hall to the dorm he is heading for. The door slides open for him thanks to the transponder mounted under a plate on his chest, and he steps through, scanning the room. 

There are a few mechs in here — most are elsewhere, probably in what goes for a rec room, or in the sparring field outside, though — and it's only a matter of seconds before he locks on the mech he's looking for. With quick steps, he strides up to the berth, taking in the bedraggled form stretched out on it.

"Hey..." He murmurs.

Nitro Zeus onlines his optic, but it takes long seconds before he seems to compute the feed.

"Hide? You're really here?"

"Yeah."

"It's been so long..." Nitro says, voice box cutting out. "I thought you were offline."

"Got held up with civilian moosepoop, and then I had to set things up for this. Sorry it took me so long... Fuck, you look like scrap, mech."

"Why, thank you, Sir, you certainly know how to charm a mech."

Ironhide rolls his optics. "I meant your state of repairs, which you can't really affect in any way. They've been running you hard?" He says, holding his servo out to Nitro.

The Flier takes it, letting himself be hauled off the berth.

"I'm closing in on my expiration date you know, and they're making sure to get the most _bang for their buck_. They've nothing to lose now, so they send me out on every mission, and they don't really care about repairing me in between. If I go, I've already made more than my fair share, and if I don't, it's no loss to them."

Rage surges when he thinks about it, how expendable they consider mechs, how cost is more important than anything.

_Just a number, never anything more._

"That ends tonight. Come on, let's go. You're coming with me." 

He leads Nitro Zeus towards the door. Hopefully, his transponder will be believable enough to not garner any closer scrutiny.

_They're just two MTOs, walking down the hallway in one of the dorms, nothing to see here, business as usual..._

"I do see the scars from whippings too." Ironhide murmurs quietly.

_Nitro's frame is littered with them, his dull plating crisscrossed with more or less healed lashes._

Nitro shrugs. "I've already served purpose far beyond expectation, everything from here on is just a bonus to them. Makes me the perfect mech to use when stating an example. If I'd deactivate in the battle a few days later, they'd just say that I was weak, and that's that."

_He really wants to blow them all to pieces, but he can't. They have to make it out of here, and they won't do that if he loses his temper._

He hears the pedesteps of another big mech, and hears the barked orders along the way as the mech approaches. Ironhide's spark speeds up.

_The Commander has probably already spotted them on his ID scanner, they can't hide now. Please, Primus, let the transponder, and the cover be good enough._

The mech steps around the corner, and they snap to attention, saluting the Officer as is expected. The mech stops in front of them, frowning.

"Aren't you supposed to be in your dorm? Your unit didn't earn access to the rec room in today's drill." He says to Nitro Zeus.

"I am, Sir. No, Sir. We fragged up, Sir."

"Seems like you're glitching, since you're not following orders properly. Good thing for you that you're old, and not worth a reprogramming." The mech turns his attention to Ironhide. "Do I know you?" His optics narrow suspiciously.

_It's one of the Officers from back when he was still stationed here._

"Designation: Dead Weight, Serial number Y2550XX36719436, Sir. Unit 1.537.481, Sir."

"Huh. Well, can't remember you all by name, you're all interchangeable. At least you aren't breaking any rules." He turns back to Nitro Zeus. "Unlike you. Kneel."

Ironhide's spark drops, and he sees the seconds while Nitro fights the command, but then his knees hit the floor with a loud clang.

"See, Dead Weight? A soldier should follow commands. Even if this outdated model is lagging these days."

"Yes, Sir!" Ironhide says, fighting to keep his voice even, like a young MTO would; emotionless about his fellow soldiers' treatment.

"Guess you're not completely glitched, even if you're fucking slow. Bend forward; cheek against the floor." The Officer says, stepping around to stand behind Nitro Zeus. "Oh, I can teek in your field how much you hate this. But if you want to avoid it, you should obey orders, and follow commands. Open up."

For a couple of seconds, Nitro manages to fight the compulsion to follow the order, and Ironhide manages to fight the urge to throw up. He has his field reeled in tight to not give away feelings he shouldn't have for this situation.

Then Nitro's interface panel slides aside, and the Officer looks at his array, before turning back to Ironhide. "See, Dead Weight? There are ways to avoid getting into this position. Fight well, and you'll get to claim the spoils instead of being someone's bitch, and follow orders so we don't have to assert our dominance."

"Yes, Sir!" Ironhide grinds out, intake burning with the acrid taste of processed energon.

The Officer turns back to Nitro Zeus, and Ironhide strikes, fast as any snakelike creature he has ever seen. He tears out the mechs vocalizer with one servo, at the same time he breaks his comm antenna with the other.

"I should've done this a long time ago, you sadistic, rapist bastard." He hisses in the mech's audial. "Too bad I don't have the opportunity to make this hurt as much as it should."

He grabs the mech's depressurizing spike before it can recede into it's sheath, and tears it out. The mech's optics are bright with agony and fear, because he's not an MTO, so he has the coding to process those kinds of emotions. Recognition flashes through his field, and Ironhide grins nastily when the mech claws at him, desperate to get away.

"This belongs to Unicron. I'm taking it for him, since he's apparently not available right now." He says, punching through the seam where the mech's chest-plates meet his ventral plating, sinking his servo deep into the mech's chest. 

Ironhide grabs the mech's spark chamber, and then he twists. The Officer writhes in agony as his insides are rearranged, and then he slumps when the connections to his chamber are severed.

"Get up, Nitro. We need to go _now._ And close your panel."

Nitro is quick to obey, Ironhide apparently still registered as a superior in his systems, or he wouldn't be able to break the other command.

_Too fucking close, he didn't plan to get to test if he was still in Nitro's chain of command._

They hurry away from the graying frame, the puddle of energon under the carcass slowly blooming out over the floor such a sweet sight to Ironhide.

"Where are we going?" 

"Northern perimeter, almost at the corner. We need to hurry to avoid the patrols. I do have a fake ID transponder, but I don't want to risk unnecessary scrutiny. Especially not after this."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Mind if I put a signal blocker on your comm? I don't want them to manage to reach you..." 

_Like the last time._

"No, I'd be grateful for it. Do you have one for my audials too? I know your hand signs even in the dark, I won't need to hear."

"I do."

_It doesn't feel right to deprive Nitro of his communication and one of his senses, both important systems to a Warframe. But he wants a repeat of their breakout even less, when they were forced to leave a mech behind... It's just dumb luck that they didn't get a longer prison sentence, and Nitro expired and was recycled before he got a chance to come back. They won't get another chance._

"Then use it. I'd rather not be caught trying to desert again. This time, it'll definitely land me in the smelter."

Ironhide nods once, and grabs the blockers in his subspace, mounting them on Nitro's comm unit, and his audials.

_It's disgusting that he even needs to take measures like that, that if he doesn't, Nitro is at risk to be ordered back to the base, and there's nothing he can do about it if that happens. Not short of taking Nitro out and carrying him out of here, but Nitro is a good fighter, and he'd be slowed down too much if he had to carry him too. They'd be shot, or apprehended._

Nitro gives him a thumbs up to show that they're working, and then they step out into the yard, lit by floodlights. Ironhide takes a patrol route, to make them look like they're on guard duty, and they follow it to the edge of the reach of the floodlights, then they veer into the darkness towards the fence. Ironhide hurries up the second they're out of sight, and Nitro follows him.

_They're late, the Officer taking too long to take out. They need to get out before the alarm system's diagnostic system has tried the fence enough times and decides that something indeed is wrong. And according to his research, they're running out of time. If the offlined bastard isn't found before that, and they get a mechhunt on their afts._

Ironhide doesn't dare a vent of relief even as they pass through the hole in the fence, he knows that they need to put more distance between themselves and the base, need to get to the edges of the city, so they can blend in with the crowds, even if a Warframe sticks out like a sore digit. They run as fast as they can, staying under the radar, because it's easier to sneak, and avoid surveillance without a fighter jet taking to the sky.

_Oh, the irony of Nitro being so damned fast, but here they are, ambling along by foot through the gritty terrain. At least the crystals, and the large metal blocks provide some cover._

His spark speeds up in exhilaration when the first streetlights and buildings are visible between the crystals, and Nitro is still a familiar presence, flanking him in that way he has done so many times before.

_Except this isn't battle, this is a run for freedom._

As soon as they reach the maze of streets, they slow down, falling into the pace of the other pedestrians, and Ironhide finally dares to open a comm link.

::Retire him. We're back in the city.::

::Sir, yes, Sir. Welcome home.:: The smirk is audible in Blackout's voice when he smoothly falls into their old roles, even if he's a free mech now. It takes about a minute of silence before he speaks up again. ::Aand Nitro is officially a veteran now. Do you need assistance, or anything else?::

::Everything is fine enough. ETA at the b... at _home_ in half an hour. Get Roadie and Springer to invite a few glitches to the party, I have a hunch Nitro will keep Crosshairs occupied all night...::

::We really need to recruit more little whores. These civilians are so high maintenance in the sack. They never were when they snuck into base...:: Blackout says, sounding bewildered.

Ironhide rolls his optics. 

_It would be very practical if he could just smack Blackout over the helm with some empathy. He already tried the law book, but apparently Blackout's claim-spoils-dominance-surrender protocols clash with it and win over the logic programming that understands the law book._

::Just unhand them if they say no.:: 

_At least the mech understands that, even if the more subtle intricacies flies over his helm._

::Aye, aye, cap'n.::

::Dork.::

Blackout barks a laugh before closing the comm.

Ironhide motions for Nitro to follow him into an alley. As soon as they're out of sight, he unsubspaces a tiny memory stick, before removing the disrupter on Nitro's audials.

"Here. It'll help you get access to the chain of command protocols. Erase them all, and slot me in as your High Commander."

It leaves a bitter taste in his intake to say the words, because he wants Nitro to be free, just like they are now, but that isn't doable at the moment. Nitro has never managed to break the obedience coding, and without a Commander, his coding could latch on to the wrong mech, and everything would go to pit. It is a sign of unconditional trust that Nitro pushes the stick into his socket without hesitation. His optic flickers while the programs war against the hack, and Ironhide holds his vents until Nitro Zeus visibly relaxes.

"They're gone. Can't order me around anymore."

"Good. Now pay attention, because I'm going to give you the most crucial orders you'll ever get."

Nitro straightens, saluting his new High Commander, and Ironhide can't tell if it's a joke, or if he's serious.

"I order you to always do what you feel is the right thing for _you_. Even if you perceive something I say as an order, you are free to decline, if you don't want to do it. Nobody else have any right to order you around, or have you slot them in as Commanders. That said, if I offline, your coding _will_ latch on to someone new as High Commander, and you can't know for sure if it will choose a suitable mech for it. Either you choose a mech you trust already, and slot them in as SIC, or you will need to do it before the coding finds one itself if it comes to that."

"Got it. Keep you safe, better offline before you."

"No, that's not what I... You have no obligations to me."

"Hide, I've followed you into battle so many times, you've taken so many risks for me. I trust the others too, but you're the only one I would ever trust to always make the right decisions for _me_. Your coding has come farther than anyone else's, you're the only one suitable. It's you or nobody."

Hide looks at Nitro for long moments: the dented plating, scuffed struts, and the marks after whips, and even if Nitro certainly looks worse for the wear, and it took him far too long to get Nitro out — it was too fucking close that they didn't make it at all — he can't feel any regrets; the only thing he can feel is relief that they actually made it.

"Alright." He throws himself at Nitro, wrapping his arms around the Flier, finally daring to relax now that Nitro can't legally be claimed back by the bastards. "Welcome to freedom, brother." His voice goes rough with static, and there's nothing he can do about it.

"It's good to be here." Nitro says thickly, hugging him back with the urgency of someone who narrowly avoided deactivation.


End file.
